Local fighters trained by Turkey ready to defend Mosul

As the countdown to the operation for pushing Daesh from Iraq's northern Mosul province begins, thousands of Turkish-backed local fighters brace for fierce clashes with the terrorist groups.

Turkish military experts from the Special Operation Forces Command have trained over 4,000 volunteer fighters at the Bashiqa camp, only 20 kilometers to Mosul.

Two weeks ago, Turkish Parliament has approved a mandate to send 2,000 troops to Iraq and Syria to fight Daesh and other terrorist organizations. Nearly 600 of these troops and their armored vehicles are already stationed in the Bashiqa camp, training local fighters who will join the battle to retake Mosul.

Ahead of the impending operation, U.S. has insisted that Iraqi Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi, infamous for their mass killings in Falluja and Tiqrit, will take part in the Mosul combat rather than local fighters, trained by Turkish military.

Amid mounting security concerns in Mosul, the Turkish military has represented the sole power which will help maintain the stability and security in the post-offensive era for Mosul, which is home to predominantly Sunni, Turkmen, Arabic and Kurdish communities.

U.S. troops, Iraqi military and Shiite militia are now stationed in a military base in al-Qayyarah town, which is 55 kilometers from Mosul center. The town had been fully liberated from Daesh terror groups in late August.

During the combat, the U.S.-led Iraqi military and Shia armed groups will be backed by Kurdish peshmerga in the northern and eastern fronts of Mosul. According to the U.S. plan, Kurdish peshmerga will be fighting in the outskirts of Mosul but not advance to central quarters of the northern province.

Turkey is concerned that the Iraqi central authority in Baghdad will make it difficult for the Sunni Muslim population to live in Mosul, once Daesh is pushed out of the northern province which has been controlled by Daesh for two years.